Malta & HMS FALCON re-visited
in 2000 (By Bill
Daysh)
Inevitably, since HMS FALCON closed down there have been
many changes at Hal Far & Kalafrana.
If you have not been back in the last ten years you would now find very little trace of your time there. The old Hal Far airfield has been redeveloped and is
now an ever-expanding industrial estate. The main runway is used as a drag-car &
go-kart track, and the old FALCON Hal Far station buildings have been put to
other uses. The tower, for example is now the training centre and
headquarters of the Maltese Fire Service. Although the name Kalafrana has been
kept, HMS FALCON Kalafrana in its entirety has
disappeared. In its place is a massive container terminal known as Freeport -
the largest in the Mediterranean - and to make way for this impressive
structure, the South Slip was literally filled in and the old Kala
camp was bulldozed flat in the process. It is extremely difficult to find your
bearings there, even when standing on the site of what was FALCON.
Grand Harbour now seems strangely quiet and virtually devoid of all naval vessels.
A few photos we took in Malta in 2000, while on a trip down memory lane there,
give some idea of the changes.